Category Archives: Is it obvious?

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a TS Eliot poem, and yes although it says love song in the title, it is not actually a love song at all. Its a worry-some poem, if such a thing exists.

The lines I have taken are as follows “Having known the evenings, morning, afternoons // I have measured my life out in coffee spoons”. On the left I have written “I do this to escape the mundane”. This part of the poem is about repetitiveness, and how we sometimes get caught up in remembering the repetition of small mundane tasks (like drinking coffee) and how ofter we repeat these tasks.

The poem is about how this young man is paralyzed by his fear of time, getting older, aging, routine, city life and so on. His anxiety is quiet palpable, the poem is very famous. One of my favorite parts

And indeed there will be time

To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”

Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—

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[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—

[They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”]

Do I dare

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Disturb the universe?

In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

My piece is a response to the poem in a way. Yes I am scared of things like aging, balding is a terrifying prospect (ill give myself a 50/50 chance on escaping it), being corrupted by society, yes I worry about routine of daily life. But I use this creative expression to free myself from those constraints. Everyone should have things that allow them to do that. For TS Eliot, it was his poetry. Although his narrator in the poem (presumably Alfred Prufrock) could not escape them, he could.

In the upcoming weekend I will be hopefully putting up a few wheatpastes, so look forward to that (probably some more poetry related as well).

Well hello there. My name is, erm, well you can call me Ives for the time being.

I am a student, a writer and I guess you could call me an artist (although I still don’t know if I would call myself that quiet yet). Today marks two important things in my life. First, it is the last day of my semester abroad in Barcelona. I will be returning to start summer school promptly before my senior year. I have been a fan and researcher of graffiti and street art as long as I can remember. And thus, this marks the second important part of this day. Today is the day that I take to the streets, producing my own work for the world to see.

As I said I am a student, both in theory and practice. I take classes but I also try to learn about the world around me and study what I truly believe. As the posts continue hopefully you will begin to see the views that I chosen.

As far as my intent goes, in no way to I want to become famous or become regarded as an important artist. My only hope is that somehow I can make a few people smile, or at least stop and think. I do not intend to damage any private property if at all possible, and almost everything I do will be perishable. Some of my pieces will be about love and happiness and strength, while others will touch on darker issues that I have encountered in my life.

If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask.

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Now about this piece, I call it “Is it obvious?” It stems from the idea of new love, first contact. When you meet someone new, before the flaws and the pettiness has all been exposed, there is a brief period where everything is perfect. A time where the new love you have just radiates off of you and shines through your soul. Yes, it may sound a little bit trite, but if you have that feeling you know what I am talking about that. This piece is about that feeling. I hung it off a balcony from a empty apartment using tape and yarn. I don’t expect it will last for very long considering the materials, but it is also out of reach unless you really try to get at it.